VMware’s App Volumes provisioning with Server 2008 R2 and VMDK’s

In last week’s post, we built out an App Volumes home lab deployment using VHD’s for provisioning. VHD’s do a great job when you’re assigning AppStacks to physical systems or VM’s running on other hypervisors, but VMDK’s are just so slick!

First of all, VHD’s require a user login or reboot to attach AppStacks. Whereas VMDK’s can attach themselves immediately and applications appear out of thin air! You’ll be a magician… No. A help desk hero when you give your users instant gratification when they request a new application on their virtual desktop. They’ll probably name that fancy new office building they’re erecting after you.

Statues and fanfare aside, I do have one bit of bad news for you. That App Volumes manager that we built to provision VHD’s isn’t going to work for us any longer. You see, once we configure a hypervisor you’re stuck with that hypervisor; there is no changing it. But don’t fret, we’re pros at this now!

It’s worth mentioning again that Server 2012 is not supported at this time despite the example screenshots below.

Since the installation is slightly different we’ll start at the beginning of the install again.

For you scroll wheel lovers looking for the condensed version, here’s the real got-ya that’s not well documented… If you’re going to use Server 2008 R2 for provisioning, you must install remote desktop services before installing the App Volumes agent. The same goes for any 2008 R2 servers that will receive AppStack assignments. You will get a “No mounting possible due to license. Virtualization is disabled” error if you don’t. Don’t worry that the eval license says it’s licensed for attaching user volumes to desktops only, the full license will show the same.

Create a vCenter account for AppVolumes with the following permissions:

Adding the AppVolumes account to the administrators role is fine for a home lab, but for production environments the account should only have the following:

Datastore Allocate space

Browse datastore

Low level file operations

Remove file

Update virtual machine files

Folder Create folder

Delete folder

Global Cancel task

Host Local operations Create virtual machine

Delete virtual machine

Reconfigure virtual machine

Resource Assign virtual machine to resource pool

Sessions View and stop sessions

Tasks Create task

Virtual machine Configuration Add existing disk

Add new disk

Add or remove device

Change resource

Remove disk

Settings

Interaction Power Off

Power On

Suspend

Inventory Create from exising

Create new

Move

Register

Remove

Unregister

Provisioning Clone template

Clone virtual machine

Create template from virtual machine

Customize

Deploy template

Mark as template

Mark as virtual machine

Modify customization specification

Promote disks

Read customization specifications

Install App Volumes Manager

Join the server to the domain

Install the Application Server role and .NET 3.5 framework.

Install the App Volumes Manager

Select SQL Server Express installation for testing

The default SQL Express Instance settings are fine for testing

The default ports are OK

Install App Volumes Manager

Once the installation has completed click on the App Volumes Manager icon on the desktop. Or open a web browser to https://localhost/start-config

Click Get Started

I installed a POC license from my VMware rep because I ran into some licensing issues with the Server 2008 agents. There is a workaround which will be discussed in the next section, so the default license should be OK.

Configure your Active Directory settings

Add your administrators for the App Volumes Manager. I chose to use Domain Admins

Configure your hypervisor. Here we’ll select vCenter Server. Notice on the bottom of the window that VMware was nice enough to include the permissions required for the App Volumes account.

Configure your storage. Select the datastores you would like to use for your templates and App Stacks

Select your default storage settings

Upload the templates to the datastore you chose

Confirm upload

Verify the configuration summary and click Next

Install App Volumes Agent on Server 2008 R2

Join the server to the domain

Install Remote Desktop Services

Install the App Volumes Agent

Enter the App Volumes Manager information

Restart

Repeat these steps for the AppStack assignment server.

Create an AppStack

Now that we’ve got everything installed and configured it’s time to get to the real fun stuff! I’m rather fond of PowerCLI and would like to be able to use it on all my 2008 R2 hosts. Let’s make that happen with the magic of Virtual Volumes.

Select the provisioning VM by clicking on the radio button to the right of the Computer’s name

Confirm by clicking Start Provisioning

Log in to the Provisioning VM where you will be greeted with a provisioning mode dialog box. DO NOT CLICK OK.

Install PowerCLI

Once installation is complete click OK on the provisioning dialog.

Click yes to confirm the install is complete and restart the VM

Click OK to reboot the provisioning VM

Log in to the VM and click OK on the successful provisioning dialog

Go back to the App Volumes manager console and click complete on our PowerCLI App Volume

Remove the snapshot from the provisioning server

Assign our PowerCLI AppStack to another Server 2008 R2 host

Expand our PowerCLI AppStack and click Assign

Select the assignment server by clicking the check box to the right of the system name

Confirm the assignment and attach the AppStack immediately

Here we see the desktop before the assignment is complete

After a few seconds PowerCLI magically appears!

Launch PowerCLI and have some fun!!

The VMDK experience is the clear winner when it comes to App Volumes but it’s nice to have the VHD option available. Next we’ll put Virtual Volumes through its paces and see how it will fare in a production environment.